Israel's Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon issued an apology and praised US Secretary of State John Kerry, hours after he was quoted in the Israeli press launching a verbal attack on Kerry's "obsession" with Middle East peace. He had been quoted as saying that the current US-sponsored plan for security arrangements with the Palestinians, "isn't worth the paper it was written on."
"Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived here determined, and who operates from an incomprehensible obsession and a sense of messianism - can't teach me anything about the conflict with the Palestinians," Yaalon had reportedly said, according to the newspaper 'Yediot Ahronot'. He added: "Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] is alive and well thanks to us. The moment we leave Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] he is finished. In reality, there have been no negotiations between us and the Palestinians for all these months – but rather between us and the Americans. The only thing that can 'save us' is for John Kerry to win a Nobel Prize and leave us in peace."
In a sharp rebuke, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: "The remarks of the defense minister, if accurate, are offensive and inappropriate, especially given all that the US is doing to support Israel's security needs. Secretary Kerry and his team ... have been working day and night to try and promote a secure peace for Israel because of the secretary's deep concern for Israel's future. To question secretary Kerry's motives and distort his proposal is not something we would expect from the defense minister of a close ally."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also criticized his minister's tone in the Knesset on Tuesday, albeit steering clear of the content of Yaalon's comments. Netanyahu said that even when Israel and the US disagreed, there was no need for personal insults. On Facebook, Tzipi Livni, Israel’s justice minister and one of its two lead negotiators, criticized the tone of Yaalon’s comments, saying: “We can oppose negotiations in a responsible and measured way, without compromising relations with our best friend." And Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s foreign minister, told Jewish leaders in Geneva that “it isn’t right and is not helpful to Israel to have a loud and public argument,” according to the newspaper 'Haaretz'.
Late on Tuesday, Yaalon issued two statements, both in Hebrew and English, apologizing to Kerry. He said the two countries "share a common goal to advance peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians." Kerry has been trying to persuade Abbas and Netanyahu to agree to a framework that would set out the core principles of a peace deal and provide guidelines for continuing to discuss the details.
"The defense minister had no intention to cause any offense to the secretary, and he apologizes if the secretary was offended by the remarks attributed to the minister," the Israel Defense Ministry said.